Apparatus for opening and closing a closure



R. LQFEA'GAN ETAL T 2,959,320

APPARATUS FOR OPENING AND CLOSING A CLOSURE I 2 sheets-sheet 1 Nov. 8, 1960 Filed March 28, 1957 IN V EN TORS,

Nov. 8, 1960- R. L. FEAGAN EI'AL 2,959,320

APPARATUS FOR QPENING AND CLOSING A CLOSURE Filed March 28, 1957 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 Rob erz A C arr/e fiaber/ Z. Feqyan INVENTORS.

United States Patent APPARATUS FOR OPENING AND CLOSING A CLOSURE Robert L. Feagan, Collinsville, and Robert L. Carrie],

East St. Louis, 11]., assignors to ACE Industries, Incorporated, New York, N.Y., a corporation of New Jersey Filed Mar. 28, 1957, Ser. No. 649,145

9 Claims. (Cl. 22025) This invention relates to closures, and more particularly to an apparatus for opening and closing a closure.

One of the primary essentials of a closure, especially one used to give easy access to the inside of a pressure vessel or piping, is that the closure can be easily opened and closed in order to keep production losses to a minimum. Commercial closures employing the principles disclosed in United States Patents 2,582,995 and 2,582,997, issued to M. P. Laurent on January 22, 1952, have been so designed. As is fully disclosed in the above mentioned patents, the Laurent type closure consists basically of a closure wall having an opening with peripheral surfaces tapered outwardly toward the outside of the vessel, a plug for closing such opening having a similar taper, load and seal rings located between the surfaces of the wall opening and the plug, and a spider connected to a center stud holding the plug initially in position.

In the Laurent type closure, it is necessary that the load and seal rings can be inserted through the opening Without undue effort and also that the rings can be prop: erly drawn up by the plug when the closure is under pressure. Ring insertion effort is dependent upon the cross sectional area of the ring and the diameter of the ring. One method of cutting down on the cross sectional area of the ring has been to increase the diameter of the plug, thereby permitting the use of a thinner ring. However, when the diameter of the plug is greater than the diameter of the opening, opposed edge portions of the plug have to be flattened to permit the plug to be inserted into the opening. Therefore, the plug has to be properly oriented with relation to the flats-beforeit' can be inserted into or withdrawn from the opening.-

Due to the heavy weight of larger closures, hinges are generally used for easy handling. While the requirements for hinges in a horizontal installation'ie, with the plane vertical installation are more complicated; since the vertical hinge assembly functions as a positioning device for the plug so that simple removal can be obtained. Inaddition to the positioning during removal, the hinge is also required to swing the plug clear. of the opening for easy access to the interior of the vessel and tohold the plug in this out of the way position. This is'espe-v cially important since the-operationof opening'anddisassembling the closure is an operation that must often be accomplished by one man working sometimes in a precarious position.

In order to more properly understand the reason for.

the hinging arrangement which will be hereinafter explained, a brief discussion of the procedure followed in opening a Laurent type closure follows. The first step in' opening a closure is to' loosen the plu'g'st'ud nut, lowering the plug to a position of rest'inside thebodyi' l atented Nov. 8, 1960 "ice The nut andspider from the closure plug are then removed. After the nut and spider have been removed from the plug it is necessary to lift the plug sufficiently to permit withdrawal of the load and seal rings. After the rings have been removed the plug is twisted until the flattened portions are properly oriented and the plug is then tilted upward and withdrawn from the closure opening. The plug for a closure of any substantial size is quite heavy, and it is very difficult for one man to perform the operation. i

In the present invention after the spider has been removed from the closure plug, a lever is attached to the closure plug and a fulcrum adjacent wall of the opening. The lever is connected to the plug by the center plug stud and a radially spaced connector. As the lever 's'trad dies the plug, the plug stem nut is screwed down until it is at the proper point for hinge operations. The lever is lifted to expose the seal ringor load and seal rings which are then removed. The lever is additionally. raised withdrawing the plug from the opening, The lever is lifted past the vertical until the lever contacts the body bracket holding the plug out of the way. Through the hinging arrangement, the plug is properly oriented, tilted and withdrawn from the closure by an upward movement of the lever. The entire operation can be per formed by a single individual with a minimum of eifort.

The first movement of the plug as the lever is first lifted is' caused by the hinge link; The movementis a slight tilt of the plane of'th'e plug, its high end being next to the body bracket and a very slight shift of the plug towards the body bracket. This movement continues as the lever is raised until the lever contacts the plug stem nut. The movement of the plug after this point as the lever continues upward consists of a grow-, ing tilt in the opposite direction and a raising of the plug out of the opening. During this phase the plug stern nut is sliding downward along the side bars' of the lever. Sliding continues as the lever goes higher until the plug stem contacts the lever spacer bar. Whenthe stem contactsthe spacer bar, the linkage of'th'e link, plug stem and lever becomes fixed and the parts act as a single unit during the remainder of the removal. Also, at this point the plug has reached the position where the plug flats are in conjunction with the minimum diam-" eter' of the opening and the plug is tilted approximately 15 to the plane of the opening. As the lever isiraised' still higher,- the plug comes out of the opening and" as'-; sumes' a stable position when the lever stops by contacting the body bracket.

It is an object of the present invention to provide a hingearrangement for an end closure. i

It' is anotherobject of the present invention to pro-.1 vide a hinge arrangement for a vertically openinglclosure, whereby an outwardly tapered plug, havinga portion of its diameter of a greater diameter than the minimum diameter of the opening, may be retracted'therefrom.

his a further object of the present invention to pro vide a hinge arrangement'which permits opening ofthe closure by one person. i

It is still another object of the present'inventionto' provide a hinge arrangement for an end closure which.

withdraws the plug from the closure and then positions the plug.

It is another object ofv the present invention to pro-2 vide a hinge arrangement for an end closure, the closure:

plug having a taper in the same direction as the opening diametrically opposed removed" sections.

It is a further. object of the present invention to provide a hinge arrangement for a closure having aITQutafl wardly taperedopening' anda'pmg of 'a greater diam eter than the opening except for flattened edge portions whereby the hinge arrangement orients the plug and then withdraws it.

Other and further objects of the invention will be obvious upon an understanding of the illustrative embodiment about to be described, or will be indicated in the appended claims, and various advantages not referred to herein will occur to one skilled in the art upon employment of the invention in practice.

A preferred embodiment of the invention has been chosen for purposes of illustration and description and is shown in the accompanying drawings, forming a part of the specification, wherein:

Figure 1 is a cross section of a Laurent type closure.

Figure 2 is an isometric view showing the hinge arrangement of the present invention attached.

Figure 3 is a cross section showing the plug being extracted from the opening.

Figure 4 is a partial plan view taken along line 44 of Figure 3.

Figure 5 is a View similar to Figure 3 showing the plug being removed.

Figure 6 is a fragmentary exploded view showing another form of body bracket. 7 I

Referring now more in detail to the drawings there is illustrated a pressure vessel 9 which may be of any desired size or shape and for any purpose for which pressure vessels may be used. The term pressure vessel, as employed herein is intended to include any structure of whatever description capable of retaining a substance under pressure. The invention does not relate specifically to the nature or purpose of the vessel, but to a means for and a method of opening a vertically positioned Laurent type closure. The closure may be mounted on the pressure vessel by a weld neck fitting 10. 1 The closure, which is more particularly disclosed in United States Patents 2,582,995 and 2,582,997, issued to M. P. Laurent on January 22, 1952, is illustrated as be ing of substantially circular cross section and as tapering or having sides converging from the inside of the vessel 9 in an outward direction as shown at 11. The closure for this opening is in the form of a plug 12 having its surface 13 tapered or converging in the same direction as the inner surface of the opening but being tapered on a lesser angle with respect to the axis of the opening. The circumferential edge of the plug at diametrically opposed locations, has been removed forming flats 14, 14 thereby providing a diameter which is less than the minimum diameter of the opening. Spaced between the plug 12 and the opening 11 there is a load and seal ring 15. In some instances separate load and seal rings may be utilized. Extending outwardly from the center of the plug 12 there is' a threaded stud 16. A spider 17, the center of which is telescoped over the stud 16 and held n position by a stem nut 19, holds the plug 12 initially in position.

In order to open the closure, the stud nut 19 is loosened thereby lowering the plug 12 to a position of rest inside the body. The usual construction of a weld end fitting prevents the plug 12 from falling down into the pressure vessel 9 itself, inasmuch as the diameter of the weld end fitting is less than the diameter of the plug 12. The nut 19 and spider 17 are then removed from the closure plug 12. After the nut and spider have been removed from the closure plug, the plug 12 may be lifted sufficiently to permit withdrawal of the seal ring 15. The closure is now in condition for application of the hinge arrangement of the present invention.

The main parts of the hinge arrangement of the present invention are the lever 20, fulcrum 21, hinge attaching means 22 and hinge link 23, together with the plug stud 16. The hinge attaching means 22 is radially spaced from the centrally located plug stud 16 on a radius at right angles to a line connecting: thetWQ diame rically op- 4 posed flats 14, 14. The fulcrum 21 is located on the fitting 10 adjacent to the circumferential edge 24 of the opening, and the stud 16, hinge attaching means 22 and fulcrum 21 all lie in a line perpendicular to a line connecting the fiats14, 14 p p g The lever 20 has a bifurcated portion 25 and several webs 26, 27, 28'are located between the two legs 29, 30 of the bifurcated portion 25. The end 31 of the bifurcated portion 25 of the lever 20 is attached to the fulcruin 21 and then passed over the plug stud 16. The hinge link 23 is then attached to the hinge attaching means 22 and the bifurcated portion 25 of the lever at a point 32 spaced between the stud 16 and end 31 of the lever. The stud nut is then screwed down onto the stud and the hinge arrangement is now in position for operation. If the load seal ring has not previously been removed, the lever can now be lifted to expose the seal ring which can then be removed. Additional raising of the lever withdraws the plug 12 from the closure. The lever 20 can then be pushed back past the vertical until the lever 20 contacts the body bracket holding the plug 12 in an out of way position while the inside of the pres sure vessel is inspected or entered. If desired the body bracket 21 maybe made so that the lever can be rotated see Figure 6 where amember 21' having a hole is a'ttached to the edge of the fitting and the bracket 21" is inserted therein. I Thefirst movement of the plug 12 is caused by the hinge link 23. The link type connection formed by the lever 20, hinge link 23 and hinge attaching means 22 has parallel pintles. One of the pintles being the pin connection between the lever 20 and hinge link 23 and the other pintle being the pin connectionbetween the hinge link 23 and hinge attaching means 22 of the plug. This movement is a slight tilt of the plane of the plug 12, its high end being next to the body bracket 21 with a very slight shift of the plug 12 toward the body bracket. This movement continues as the lever is raised until the lever 20 contacts the plug stem nut 19. The movement of the plug 12 after this point continues upwardly and consists of a growing tilt in the opposite direction and a raising of the plug out of the opening. During this time the plug stem nut 19 slides along the legs 29, 36 of the bifurcated portion of the lever until it contacts the web 26. When this point is reached, the linkage of the link 23, plug stud 16 and lever 20 becomes fixed and the parts act as a single unit during the remainder of the removal. Also at this point the plug 12 has reached a position where the plug flats 14, 14 are in conjunction with the minimum diameter of the opening and the plug is tilted approximately 15 to the plane of the opening. As the lever 20 is raised still higher the plug comes out of the opening and assumes a stable position when the lever stop 27 contacts the body bracket 21. If the alternate form of body bracket 21 shown in Figure 6 is used the lever 20 and plug 12 can be swung out of the way since the bracket 21" rotates in the member 21'.

The plug 12 can be left in this position while the in side of the pressure vessel is inspected. After the inspection is completed the lever 20 is lowered and the plug reenters the opening. The lever can be then disengaged, the seal rings installed, and the spider positioned on the stud and the plug pulled into position.

The above described hinging arrangement can also be utilized where the plug 12 faces downwardly.

As can be readily seen the hinge mechanism heretofore described facilitates opening and closing of a Laurent type closure.

As various changes may be made in the form, construction and arrangements of the parts herein without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention and without sacrificing any of its advantages, it is to be understood that all matter herein is to be interpreted as illustrative and. not in a limiting sense.

Having thus described my invention in some detail, what we claim is:

l. A hinge arrangement for an open ended chamber having a circular opening which has an outwardly converging tapered surface, the opening being closed by a plug having a taper in the same direction as the surface of said opening, diametrically opposed edge portions of the plug being removed so that at least a portion of the diameter of the plug is less than the minimum diameter of the opening, said hinge arrangement comprising: a lever pivoted adjacent the edge of the opening, the lever being hingedly attached to the plug by a link type connection at a point spaced from the center of the plug along a radius at right angles to a line connecting the diametrically opposed removed portions, the link connection having parallel pintles, one of the pintles being in the lever and the other pintle being on the plug, the lever also being slidingly connected to a centrally located vertical stud so that as the lever is moved outward the stud slides along the lever whereby the plug is tilted outward toward the edge of the opening opposite the bracket a proper amount to permit withdrawal of the plug from the opening.

2. A hinge arrangement for an open ended chamber having a circular opening which has an outwardly converging tapered surface closed by a plug having a taper in the same direction as the surface of said opening, opposed edge portions of said plug being flatted so that at least a portion of the diameter of the plug is less than the minimum diameter of the opening, said hinge arrangement comprising: a stud extending outwardly from the center of the plug, a female link connecting means attached to the plug at a point spaced from the center of the plug along a radius at right angles to a line contacting the opposed fiatted edge portions, a fulcrum located on the chamber adjacent to the edge of the opening, a lever having a bifurcated portion, the terminus of the bifurcated portion of the lever pivoted to the fulcrum and telescoped over the centrally located stud, a link, one end being pivotally attached to the link connecting means and the other end being pivotally attached to the bifurcated portion of the lever at a point between the fulcrum and centrally located stud the bifurcated portion also being provided with a web which limits the movements of the stud along the lever upon moving the lever to extract the plug from the opening.

3. The hinge arrangement described in claim 2 characterized in that the fulcrum is provided with means permitting the lever and plug to be rotated away from the opening in a plane parallel to the opening.

4. A closure apparatus for a fitting comprising in combination: a fitting having a circular opening forming a sealing surface, said sealing surface tapering outwardly, a circular closure member for said opening, the closure member having its peripheral surface tapered in the same direction as the sealing surface of the opening, diametrically opposed edge portions being removed from the peripheral surface of said closure member so that at least a portion of the diameter of said closure member is less than the minimum diameter of said opening to permit the closure member to be withdrawn through the opening, a centrally located pin extending axially outwardly from the closure member, an axially outwardly extending hinge element rigidly secured to the closure member spaced from the centrally located pin along a radius at right angles to a line connecting the opposed removed portions, an axially outwardly extending bracket located on the outer edge of the fitting adjacent to the edge of the opening, said bracket having an aperture with its axis extending parallel to a line connecting the removed portions, a pivot pin disposed in said aperture, a bifurcated handle pivotally connected to said pivot pin and telescoped over the central pin, means to retain said bifurcated handle in telescopic relationship with said pivot pin, transversely aligned apertures in the arms of said bifurcated handle provided with a pintle pin therein, a link hingedly connected to the hinge element by a pintle pin and also to the pintle pin in said aligned apertures of the handle, each of the pintle pins being on a line parallel to a line connecting said removed portions whereby when the handle is raised the closure member is oriented for withdrawal from the opening.

5. The closure apparatus specified in claim 4 characterized in that the bifurcated handle is provided with a multiplicity of pairs of transversely aligned pintle apertures.

6. The closure apparatus specified in claim 4 characterized in that the bifurcated handle is provided with means to limit the amount that the centrally located pin can slide along the bifurcated handle.

7. The closure apparatus specified in claim 4 characterized in that the means to retain the bifurcated handle in telescopic relationship with the centrally disposed pin of the closure member comprises threads on the pin and a threaded member in threaded engagement with said pin threads.

8. The closure apparatus specified in claim 4 characterized in that the bracket adjacent the edge of the opening is provided with means permitting rotation of the handle about an axis perpendicular to the plane of the fitting opening after the closure member has been removed from the opening.

9. A closure apparatus for a weld end fitting comprising in combination: a fitting having a circular opening, a circular closure member for said opening, a centrally located pin extending axially outwardly from the closure member, an axially outwardly extending hinge element rigidly secured to the closure member spaced from the centrally located pin, an axially outwardly extending bracket having an aperture located on the outer edge of the fitting adjacent to the edge of the opening, a pivot pin disposed in said aperture, a fork shaped handle pivotally connected to said pivot pin and telescoped over the central pin, means to retain said forked handle in telescopic relationship with said pivot pin, a link hingedly connected to the hinge element and also to the handle respectively by pintle pins, the centrally located pin, hinge element and bracket being aligned on the same radius and the pivot pin and pintle pins of the link being parallel to each other and perpendicular to a plane containing both the aforesaid radius and the axis of the centrally located pin of the closure whereby when the handle is raised the closure member is oriented for withdrawal from the opening.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 309,938 Farnum Dec. 30, 1884 1,870,973 Thwaits Aug. 9, 1932 2,271,411 Thwaits Jan. 27, 1942 2,520,864 Thornhill Aug. 29, 1950 FOREIGN PATENTS 68,253 Norway Aug. 28, 1944 

